5 Photos of Isabella Stroupe: Timeline of Torture Revealed After North Carolina Teen Found Dead

A 19-year-old North Carolina woman was found bound, stabbed and dead inside her own apartment, the brutal endpoint, investigators allege, of months of systematic torture inflicted by the man she called her boyfriend.

Isabella Mary Alexandria Stroupe had turned 19 just months before officers arrived at her east Charlotte home in the early hours of 1 May 2026. She was pronounced dead at the scene at the apartment on Yateswood Drive. What followed, laid out in chilling detail across court affidavits, painted a picture not of sudden violence, but of prolonged, calculated cruelty carried out behind a closed door.

A Pre-Dawn Call and a Devastating Discovery

At around 3.35 a.m. on 1 May 2026, officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's (CMPD) Hickory Grove Division were dispatched to a QuikTrip petrol station on Albemarle Road, after a call from Thomaz Kenon Hamilton, 24, who told dispatch that his girlfriend had stopped breathing.

When officers and medics arrived at the apartment, they found Stroupe dead. She was wearing minimal clothing and was bound with a tow strap, according to the affidavit. The scene was not consistent with a natural death.

Crime scene detectives searched the residence and recovered a knife wrapped in cellophane with suspected blood on it, a baseball bat, a sword, multiple broken mobile phones, blood-stained clothing and a mattress soaked with what appeared to be blood. The apartment, investigators said, told its own story.

What the Affidavit Reveals

Hamilton gave detectives a voluntary interview. He told homicide investigators that he was in a dating relationship with Stroupe and lived with her. He claimed that during the incident, he was having sexual intercourse with her when she suddenly appeared to suffer a heart attack. He insisted no one else was in the apartment.

Investigators were not persuaded. On 4 May, detectives were contacted by the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner's Office, which advised that Stroupe's cause of death was homicide, and that she had sustained multiple injuries including broken and fractured bones and stab wounds.

The affidavit's language was explicit about the scale of what Stroupe had endured. It stated that 'Stroupe was being tortured over a period of several months and that Stroupe would have been physically unable to provide consent for vaginal sexual intercourse.' That determination effectively dismantled Hamilton's account entirely.

The following day, the CMPD's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team (VCAT) located Hamilton, and he was taken in for an interview with detectives. He was formally charged on 5 May 2026.

The Charges and Hamilton's Legal Status

Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's homicide unit confirmed on Tuesday, 5 May 2026, that they were conducting a homicide investigation in the Hickory Grove Division. The official CMPD press release confirmed the arrest and the charges against Hamilton.

Thomaz Hamilton, 24, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the death of Isabella Stroupe. Those are the most serious charges available under North Carolina law, carrying the potential of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Hamilton made his first court appearance on Wednesday, 6 May 2026. He is being held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center without bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for 27 May. As of the time of publication, there is no confirmed information on whether he has secured legal representation.

'I Just Screamed and Screamed': A Family in Grief

Beyond the court documents lies the devastation of a family stripped of their daughter. Isabella's mother, Emelie Stroupe, spoke publicly about the moment she learned of her child's death. 'I lost it, I just screamed and screamed,' she said. 'I watch so many TV shows about girls that have been brutalised and killed and you think God I hope that never happens to my kids and then you wake up to this nightmare.'

Isabella's sister described her as a bookworm who loved sharing her favourite stories and engaging in creative activities including fan fiction. Her family remembered her as 'fiercely creative' and funny, a young woman whose passion for literature defined her.

Her family launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist with funeral costs, writing on the fundraising page that 'her creativity brought so much joy to our family' and that 'remembering her passion for books and the happiness she brought to those around her makes this loss even harder.'

Emelie Stroupe has made clear that grief will not be the final word. 'I think Bella's story is going to do a lot of good,' she said, expressing hope that her daughter's case would reach women still trapped inside abusive relationships and unable to find their way out.

The trial of Thomaz Keon Hamilton is expected to unfold in the months ahead, and for the Stroupe family, justice for Isabella is the only outcome that will matter.